Electric Car Charger Vandalism Continues To Surge Nationwide

[loneryder]

What's funny is, the C-Level staff is responsible for the ongoing growth and success of the company, less so the short term operations and revenue from operations.

As @SC Maintenance has pointed out, EV market share consumption may be approaching an inflection point.
If EVs are to continue on their rapid growth curve, someone has to offer a $25K to $30K car with 300 mile range and charging issues need to be sufficiently addressed.
The $25,000 price tag won’t be achieved through traditional production processes.
You can fairly make the point that the current Teslas are in need of a refresh.

I can tell you this; I was overjoyed to pay $5.20 at Costco for 91* in the TSX. That's a 50 cent drop from the last Costco fill-up. 87* was a paltry $4.90! My PG&E gas and electricity bill was -$65 last month.

Interesting times ahead. The consumer benefits from choice and industry competition.

I think people are buying EVs because they want one not because of any justification. In northern Virginia Teslas are everywhere. Several reasons…people have plenty of money, keeping up with the neighbors, and being able to drive in restricted lanes. This last one may have changed. Commutes are reasonable for an EV. It seems to be human nature to not consider where the electricity comes from. For example, the power structure in DC wants to do away with coal power plants. The DC area gets its power from WV coal plants. On every piece of un used land they are building server farms many being Amazon. Those server farms require a lot of power. Where do they think it’s going to come from if not the present coal power plants?
About a year ago I was talking to an electric power contractor. He told me he was working in the Dulles area hooking up new server farms(data centers) and there was no new capacity. The building contractors were screaming at him to get the power connected. His hands were tied because there wasn’t the power capacity. They are continuing to build them everywhere. Now one might ask why would you build something that there was no power for. That’s the way DC works.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Someone backed into my parents ID.4 in El Paso when they were on their way back from Las Vegas. They were at Electrify America and had gone inside to the Walmart that the EA charging point was in the parking lot of. Big dent in the liftgate and one of the tail light lenses smashed.

Was it on purpose? I guess we'll never know, but it seems suspicious given the rash of incidents.

They should ask walmart for the surveillance video. I have heard of them providing it case of an incident. Worth asking, might need a police report first.

 

[JeffKeryk]

I think people are buying EVs because they want one not because of any justification. In northern Virginia Teslas are everywhere. Several reasons…people have plenty of money, keeping up with the neighbors, and being able to drive in restricted lanes. This last one may have changed. Commutes are reasonable for an EV.

Agreed. That's true of most auto purchases, especially anything luxury or performance. No one needs those cars.
I bought our EV mostly for wifey, but over the past years have come to really appreciate the car. It's not what I thought.

 

[dogememe]

I think your taking my comments out of context. I was responding to a comment that very loosely inferred it might have been somewhat similar to the transition from horses to cars. But in that transition, cars were embraced at large. I specifically chose 1920, because at that point cars had been affordable for about a decade, and 1 in 12 people had one, which based on family size in 1920 was really better than one per 2 families. In the same comparative time EV's are 1 per 100. Clearly the comparison is different. A horse wasn't a car, but clearly an ICE car or EV are more or less the same at their core utility.

I don't think people are shunning EV's - I just think for most people the high up front cost and recharge time and complexity exceed any possible benefits. They probably work great for people that a) don't take many long trips, b) can charge at home and c) have enough cash or income that significantly higher up front cost doesn't matter. What percentage of the population meets all 3 of those? Whatever that number is, that will be the EV ceiling until those variables change. I think were getting closer to that ceiling daily.

A used 2017 Toyota Corolla that’s completely out of warranty is $18K+

My used 2017 Chevy Bolt with a battery warranty for 90-something-thousand more miles and til 2031 was $12K. Even if we take off the nice $4K down payment the IRS made for me it’s $16K.

So what “high up front cost” of EVs are you referring to?

 

[andrew_j]

Someone backed into my parents ID.4 in El Paso when they were on their way back from Las Vegas. They were at Electrify America and had gone inside to the Walmart that the EA charging point was in the parking lot of. Big dent in the liftgate and one of the tail light lenses smashed.

Was it on purpose? I guess we'll never know, but it seems suspicious given the rash of incidents.

Walmart enough said…

 

[Torrid]

yoComparing what to what. A model 3 is the size of a Toyota Corolla which gets 36MPG mixed. It’s half the price up front. Your ROI on that trade is likely 20 years dependent on your electricity rate. I actually did the math on a model three verses, my wife’s RAV4 and the ROI was like a decade, not even counting the time value of money or cost to install an outlet.

Not saying don’t buy a model three. Feel free. But the math seldom works if you’re trying to justify that for the purchase. There are exceptions, like Jeff for example.

My electricity is $0.15 after all fees. It doesn't make sense to drive an ICE vehicle here. Its not the equivalent of a Corolla performance wise. Thats a big consideration when it comes to cost. If all you're concerned with is overall cost then you might have a point. I think that's a very small part what this site what concern themselves with. My concern is not living in a penalty box to get from A to B. I'm into performance vehicles and the basic vehicle that still requires buying gasoline is a big boost when it comes for paying for fuel.

 

[SC Maintenance]

My electricity is $0.15 after all fees. It doesn't make sense to drive an ICE vehicle here. Its not the equivalent of a Corolla performance wise. Thats a big consideration when it comes to cost. If all you're concerned with is overall cost then you might have a point. I think that's a very small part what this site what concern themselves with. My concern is not living in a penalty box to get from A to B. I'm into performance vehicles and the basic vehicle that still requires buying gasoline is a big boost when it comes for paying for fuel.

Right. But your comment was based on you saying it was half the price to charge than $2.99 gas. So thats nice, but its more money up front too, so there is no ROI there. If you want to drive it for other reasons, like I said, whatever works best for you.

Thats always the first argument from EV owners - there so much cheaper on fuel. Your really just pre-paying for the fuel. There is no justification for EV's being better based on fuel costs alone in most parts of the USA.

 

[Ws6]

Right. But your comment was based on you saying it was half the price to charge than $2.99 gas. So thats nice, but its more money up front too, so there is no ROI there. If you want to drive it for other reasons, like I said, whatever works best for you.

Thats always the first argument from EV owners - there so much cheaper on fuel. Your really just pre-paying for the fuel. There is no justification for EV's being better based on fuel costs alone in most parts of the USA.

My EV costs me $85/mo in electricity. My Acura cost me $3-500/mo in fuel.

 

[SC Maintenance]

My EV costs me $85/mo in electricity. My Acura cost me $3-500/mo in fuel.

Then you have a very unique scenario.

Tesla 3 which is the most efficient Tesla is 4.3 miles per KWH - US average is 16.1 cents per KWH. So $85/0161 = 2270 miles/month or 27242 miles per year - more than double the national average.

The current Integra is about the same interior volume as a model 3, and it gets on average 30mpg. Current gas price is $3.59. So crunching your numbers

$300 = 2507 miles / month or 30,084 miles per year
$599 = 4178 miles / month or 50,139 miles per year.

The average person drives 13,500 miles a year.

Either your not comparing apples or something in your situation is very unique. We already know you drive a lot of miles compared to average. If not, then you either buy gas in the California mountains at $6 a gallon, you get really low electricity rates, or maybe all of those reasons are true.

Its not a meaningful comparison for the typical person in the USA. It may very well work for you.

 

[demarpaint]

My EV costs me $85/mo in electricity. My Acura cost me $3-500/mo in fuel.

How many miles a month did you drive that Acura?

 

[oil pan 4]

"Nothing bad will happen if we decriminalize hard drugs"

 

[Pablo]

"Nothing bad will happen if we decriminalize hard drugs"

Nothing will happen if we don't prosecute property crimes.

 

[alarmguy]

Right. But your comment was based on you saying it was half the price to charge than $2.99 gas. So thats nice, but its more money up front too, so there is no ROI there. If you want to drive it for other reasons, like I said, whatever works best for you.

Thats always the first argument from EV owners - there so much cheaper on fuel. Your really just pre-paying for the fuel. There is no justification for EV's being better based on fuel costs alone in most parts of the USA.

I agree on your points. Nothing wrong with EVs, heck I am looking for a lightly used one and an ICE vehicle at the same time.
Either a Trailblazer or Bolt as our second car. Model year will be no older than 2022 to as much as 2024

I get 100% those buying an EV for a performance car, no different than those buying sports cars. But this bringing up of gasoline costs and ignoring all others is one sided.

People will pay for convenience and gasoline rules for the majority. So let's accept that and leave it out of the equation I say. Who cares the type if fuel? It's about the vehicle and what you want to do with it. Its an endless debate for EV people bring up the cost of fuel when spending the extra money for an EV, higher initial cost, higher insurance premiums and many of today's EVs can not even tow a 5000 lb boat without the cost of the vehicle both in mileage to next charge and purchase price. IN addition to this they are small and larger SUV EVs are prices out of middle income Americans.

SO back to subject, Wife and I personal reason for an EV is its a local around town type use and makes sense in the way that it will need no maintenance but the cost to us is still there for a BOLT. I will pay higher insurance, have a smaller car but will be more powerful.
If we go for the Trailblazer (my wife really likes the look and larger size) It will be less powerful but actually capable of even taking it into town at night with (should we choose) another couple in the back seat. The insurance will be less expensive but I will have to buy gasoline and change oil. I could care less about buying gasoline and dont care about the cost of gasoline, changing oil I do not enjoy as much as I used to.

Pick what works for you, Americans buy convenience except for the initial enthusiasts in forums like this. We do need to face reality, Battery EVs will be here forever or until a better solution but the sales are not coming close to expectations no matter how much we vote to force those sales on us.

 

[alarmguy]

As far as vandalism ... well, people calmly walk into stores now, hood over their face, fill up bags with merchandise and walk out.
So the ones cutting cables from recharge stations are new to the career and afraid to steal in front of other people *LOL* But dont worry, they will move up in the world!

 

[Brons2]

A used 2017 Toyota Corolla that’s completely out of warranty is $18K+

My used 2017 Chevy Bolt with a battery warranty for 90-something-thousand more miles and til 2031 was $12K. Even if we take off the nice $4K down payment the IRS made for me it’s $16K.

So what “high up front cost” of EVs are you referring to?

Yeah, all the resistance from people of a certain persuasion is actually making it a lot cheaper for people that really want to go electric.

 

[alarmguy]

Yeah, all the resistance from people of a certain persuasion is actually making it a lot cheaper for people that really want to go electric.

I would say might help bring the cost of a used EV down closer to a ICE vehicle. Certainly not cheaper. Might be more where one lives with used EVs. Im looking for a used Bolt that is loaded. There is one 2023 (or 22) 2 hour drive away, dealer hasn't committed if it qualifies for the $4k tax credit, says "it should" based on where the battery is made. 2 hours is to far to drive though. Not motivated enough, maybe next year when the new ones come out.

 

[dogememe]

I would say might help bring the cost of a used EV down closer to a ICE vehicle. Certainly not cheaper. Might be more where one lives with used EVs. Im looking for a used Bolt that is loaded. There is one 2023 (or 22) 2 hour drive away, dealer hasn't committed if it qualifies for the $4k tax credit, says "it should" based on where the battery is made. 2 hours is to far to drive though. Not motivated enough, maybe next year when the new ones come out.

Used EV tax credit doesn’t matter where battery is made. That’s only for the new EV tax credit. But if you go for a used one it has to be at least 2022 or older.

 

[alarmguy]

Used EV tax credit doesn’t matter where battery is made. That’s only for the new EV tax credit. But if you go for a used one it hit has to be at least 2022 or older.

You know, Im sort of surprised many car dealers still work this hard antiquated sales tactic. It's like pulling teeth getting answers from them with emails. Not kidding, the standard response is, the car is available when do you want to come in for a test drive. All they want to do is get you in the door, trying to get direct answers is annoying.
Anyway, the car 2 hours aways sounds REALLY nice. Leather the whole works, we are told the car is showroom, local one owner. I looked at a lot but I think I confirmed it was local NC registration.

SO I ask about the 4k rebate, would be a sweet deal if it was. It's a 2022, the answer is it "should" be eligible. Not a direct answer... but who knows maybe IF and only iff we want to take the drive I will call directly and find out because if we do drive and its everything they say, we would drive it home. Just dont know if we are motivated enough yet.
This is another story but I did both our cars with Sylvania headlight restore last weekend, wow, both cars look awesome and the Mazda we would be getting rid of looks as showroom as a 2012 car can. One little half inch mark on the read drivers side door. I know I can sell it in a moment just by putting a Facebook add in my community FB page.

Thanks for your reply I assume you are sure on this? ANY 2022 Bolt will qualify?

 

[alarmguy]

Used EV tax credit doesn’t matter where battery is made. That’s only for the new EV tax credit. But if you go for a used one it has to be at least 2022 or older.

This is what I found; ?

 

[Passport1]

I don't understand the ICE vs EV stuff. It seems some have a one-or-the-other attitude;

Not the case at all.

People object to being nudged by an irresistible force towards one and away from the other at a cost they can't afford. Most don't give a flip about what another buys or not. EVs are being pushed on us like kids used to be forced to swallow castor oil.

Didn't like it then, don't like it now.